EBT Now Stands For Restaurant Meals, And Other EBT Abuse

[Ryan Ruck]

EBT Now Stands For Restaurant Meals

Until now it's been a struggle to use food stamps at restaurants, but L.A. county's new Restaurant Meals program now allows EBT to be accepted at 500 locations, including Dominos and El Pollo Loco. Vanessa Romo reports.

Steve Chiotakis: There are some new signs luring customers into fast food restaurants around Los Angeles these days. No, they're not glossy close-ups of half-pound beef patties. They are plain white and blue signs, saying: "Now Accepting EBT" -- that's shorthand for food stamps. Reporter Vanessa Romo has more.

Vanessa Romo: Things weren't always so dire for Maria Ochoa. She once owned a beauty salon, a house, and a gold Lexus. But now she's at El Pollo Loco eating her one hot meal of the day.

Maria Ochoa: I always eat cold food, but I'm tired because sometimes we want some hot meals. And now that I know that they get the EBT, I come here and eat a hot meal.

EBT stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer. It's a debit card for food stamps.

Ochoa, a woman in her 50's with red permed hair and polished nails, is now living in that gold Lexus. Six months ago, she would have been hard-pressed to find a restaurant that takes food stamps. Now El Pollo Loco, Dominos and Jack in Box are part of L.A. county's Restaurant Meals program.

Lydia Erviti oversees the program, which includes more than 500 restaurants.

Lydia Erviti: Our goal is to provide healthy meals for the homeless, disabled and elderly participants. Especially the homeless because they don't have space to store food or cook.

Restaurant Meals is also paying off for those on the cooking end.

Joe Stein is the head of Strategy and Innovation for El Pollo Loco:

Joe Stein: I can tell you for 2010, just the way it's trending, we wouldn't be surprised if for company and franchise stores was over $2 million. From something that just started in August 09, that's pretty good size growth.

Good enough to interest other chains in joining the program, like Pizza Hut and Burger King. But food stamps still won't get you a Big Mac or Chicken McNuggets. Not yet anyway.

That's OK with Maria Ochoa:

Ochoa: With my blood pressure and my diabetic, I can not eat too much salt and greasy food. That's why I prefer to come here.

For now she's sticking with the grilled chicken.

In Los Angeles, I'm Vanessa Romo for Marketplace.

[Ryan Ruck]

Yum! Brand Lobbies For Kentucky Food Stamp Users To Be Able To Buy Fast Food

June 1, 2011

Fast food giant Yum! Brands is lobbying Kentucky's governor to allow food stamp users to buy fast food.

Currently Kentucky's Food Assistance Program provides money to those in need to buy food -- but that does not include fast food.

Yum! says the elderly, disabled, and homeless should be able to use food stamps to buy hot meals, especially those unable to cook. But members of the African-American Think Tank disagree, as Rev. Gerome Sutton explains: "What that will ultimately do is, it will affect the health and well-being of our community and drive up the cost of health care for the state."

This proposal is being made at a time when lawmakers from other states are pushing for stricter guidelines for the food stamp program.

[catfish]

If they lived in Minnesota, they could take their government issued debit cards to an atm and withdraw cash to pay for fast food. Just like when they go to Mystic Lake Casino and withdraw cash from those atms to gamble with.

[Ryan Ruck]

[Phil Fiord]

Today I saw a man in a very expensive suit and his presumed wife at a checkout line at the store. They had a huge cart built up and the checker was quickly running items through. As the total topped 100.00, the man said, wait. Take off the Capri Suns. There were 8 of them. Then he sent more items at the checker. Opps. At 100 again. He said wait and told the checker to take off the Nabisco 100 cal boxes. There were 5.

The bill was 99.78. The man took out an EBT card and paid for that stuff and still had a cart load. He pushed the cart to the bagger and said here you go. He gathered the bags up and they walked out. I watched as they went to a new luxury car with DC plates. A Virginia EBT card and DC car plates. Hmm. At least they bought real food. Often I see crap bought like a cart of soda or cookies and a soda.

I am not against a program that is used for needed foods to be nourished. But I draw a line at junk food. Now fast food? ugh....

[Ryan Ruck]

I've heard dozens of these stories. Saw a variation of it when I worked in a dental office years ago where people would come in and "pay" with a medical card and then get right into a late model Lincoln or Cadillac.

I believe EBT card should only cover the bare basics such as milk, orange juice, apple juice, cereal, bread, ground beef (not steak), pork, chicken, fruits, vegetables, and cheese. No prepared packaged food, no candy, no chips, no Twinkies, no junk food. EBT is there to prevent you from starving, not sustaining a lifestyle.

The system could be programmed to allow certain products and disallow others. It does that now. It just needs to be severely curtailed.

There should also be time limits on how long a person may receive food benefits for. There should also be NO federal money involved, all local money only should states decide to have such a program in the first place.

[catfish]

Don't forget about the guy from Michigan that won $2million and can still legally received food stamps.

[Ryan Ruck]

Tell me this just doesn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I keep telling people I'm in the wrong line of work and this "hard work" BS is for suckers.

I keep being proven right.

Deputies: Lakeland Heroin Ringleader Used Food Stamps

June 15, 2011



Neighbors are outraged that a Lakeland father, accused of pulling in thousands of dollars a month heading up a heroin operation, allegedly used taxpayer money to collect hundreds of dollars in food stamps.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions about how 43 year-old Pablo Borgen, who the Polk County Sheriff's Office says is in this country illegally, was able to qualify for $900 a month in food stamps.

Borgen was arrested wearing nothing but blue underwear early Tuesday morning at one of his four homes located at 1806 Jupiter Street in Lakeland. Borgen, a father, is one of more than 30 people arrested in one of the largest heroin stings ever in Polk County according to Sheriff Grady Judd.

Neighbors like Sherry Heise say they're relieved. "Get rid of them they don't need to be here." Heise says she's outraged at the news that Borgen is accused of also collecting hundreds of dollars a month in food stamps.

She says, "Hang him by his toes please because I've been out of work since February of '08 and I had to finally go on disability to earn some income. I lived for over a year on nothing but $200 in food stamps [a month]. I had to beg and borrow and then go back and beg and borrow."

Sheriff Grady Judd says the operation was a family affair. After a 14 month investigation they arrested 33 people including Borgen's wife and sister. Judd says some of the other suspects were also collecting food stamps.

Heise adds, "They're stealing from the people that need it. They steal when they sell the drugs. They steal when they go after stuff they don't qualify for. You know if you're bringing in $70,000 a month you don't need $900 in food stamps."

You know, at $900 a month, I could eat like a king!

[Ryan Ruck]

NYC (of all places) tries to take a step in the right direction for EBT (albeit for the wrong reasons) and Uncle Sugar comes in with a slap down.

Feds Oppose Ban On Food Stamps For Sodas In NYC

August 19, 2011

A plan by New York City to combat obesity by restricting the purchase of sugary drinks with foods stamps would be too large and complex, federal officials said Friday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected a waiver request that would have allowed the city to implement the plan, which would have barred food stamp recipients from using their benefits to buy sodas, teas, sports drinks and other sugar-sweetened drinks.

The ban would have applied to any sweetened beverage that contains more than 10 calories per 8 ounces.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson announced in October that they would seek a waiver from the USDA to start up a temporary program that would be evaluated before becoming permanent.

In a statement released Friday, Bloomberg said his administration was disappointed by the USDA's decision.

"We think our innovative pilot would have done more to protect people from the crippling effects of preventable illnesses like diabetes and obesity than anything being proposed anywhere else in this country — and at little or no cost to taxpayers," he said.

While sharing the goal of reducing obesity, an official with the nation's food stamp program said in a letter Friday addressed to the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance that the USDA had concerns about the plan's "potential viability and effectiveness."

Jessica Shahin, associate administrator of the program, wrote that the proposal lacked clear product eligibility guidelines, didn't take into account the burden that might be placed on city food retailers and failed to put forward a credible design for evaluating the effect on obesity and health.

The food stamp program was launched in the 1960s and serves more than 40 million Americans each month.

The city has been actively working to shape diet choices by New Yorkers, including with a public advertising campaign called "Pouring on the Pounds" that targets the excessive consumption of sugary drinks by linking it to obesity and diabetes.